HOUSTON – Michael Strahan hasn’t talked to Tom Coughlin. Not by phone, not in person. Nothing.

“I don’t know if there’s a protocol to what you’re supposed to do, and if there is, I’m not privy to it,” the Giants Pro Bowl defensive end said yesterday upon arriving at the site of Super Bowl XXXVIII.

“I expect to talk to him when I get back.”

For now, Strahan goes by what he hears about his ultra-strict new head coach. Like any interested observer, Strahan heard Coughlin’s give-’em-hell opening remarks at his initial news conference, how Coughlin called injuries “a cancer.”

“I think at this point in my career I understand what it takes for me to be ready to play, what my body can and cannot do, what my body needs to do and doesn’t need to do,” Strahan said.

As for Coughlin referring to injuries as “a mental thing, as much as anything,” Strahan said, “There are certain meanings you can take from that. You can take the fact when he says injuries are a cancer and a state of mind, where he looked at it and felt some guys maybe weren’t as hurt as they said they were and that’s why they weren’t playing. I definitely don’t think it’s a frame of mind whenever you got an X-ray sitting there with a guy with a broken bone or back.

“I don’t think he meant to disparage in any way somebody with those injuries.”

Strongly backing the return of Jim Fassel, Strahan admits life under Coughlin will be an adjustment. Strahan did speak recently with Tim Lewis, the new defensive coordinator, and came away impressed by the conversation and also that the Giants are going to stick to a 4-3 defense rather than the 3-4 the Steelers played under Lewis.

“He told me he’s a coach who’s going to get it done, he’s going to listen to his players, everything isn’t one way, he’s not afraid to have a player say, ‘Coach, I see this, I think this or that will work,’ ” Strahan said.

Strahan will head directly to Hawaii for the Pro Bowl following the Super Bowl.